Say Yes to release debut EP

Say Yes, the Toronto-based raucous rock trio featuring former members of Alexisonfire, Jersey, and Saint Alvia, will release their debut self-titled EP in Australia on the 22nd August.

Comprised of drummer and principal songwriter Jordan Hastings, guitarist/vocalist Adam Michael, and bassist/vocalist Michael Zane, Say Yes delivers a decadent collage of ‘90s era offshoots of rock and roll. Borrowing bits of the riff-driven intensity of early Queens of the Stone Age, the emotive post-hardcore of Rival Schools and Quicksand, and even the glory years of skate punk strongholds like Epitaph and Fat, there’s something blatantly nostalgic about the seven songs that make up their debut EP, and yet it never comes off as derivative or dull.

“Adam and I have been writing together for over 15 years,” Hastings shares of a musical partnership that predates his time behind the kit with Canadian pop punk pioneers Jersey and post-hardcore heroes Alexisonfire. “Even during Alexis’s run, we’d still get together between tours and write music. We knew there was something special there, and over the last year or two, we’ve put a lot more into it.”

Zane joined the fold in 2012 and after a year of fervently writing and rehearsing, the band brought their songs to the studio, recording the EP with producer/engineer Justin Koop (Billy Talent, Walk Off The Earth, Grade) at B Town Sound Studios in Burlington, ON.

Lead single, Sunrise, is perhaps best representative of Say Yes’ sonic aesthetic - gritty in-your-face guitar lines supporting intense dual-vocal hooks, all anchored by an interlocked rhythm section while lyrically, the record is rather dark and sarcastic, often examining different degenerate characters through a somewhat cynical lens. “It’s kind of all over the board,” Michael explains of his subjects. “Politicians, everyday struggles – it’s just very matter-of-fact and real-life.”